About the same time, a bit over 20 years. My first CD was Sibelius #2. It took weeks for me to appreciate it fully, some serious learning curve there..

 

My parents took me to the opera at 10/11 years old and concertos before that time, I had a CD player when I was 10 ( now almost 32) and a turntable also, my first vinyl was Beethoven concerto 5 Kempff.
My two first CD : Mozart arias / Fleming and duets by Sutherland/ Pavarotti.

 

My parents took me to the opera at 10/11 years old and concertos before that time, I had a CD player when I was 10 ( now almost 32) and a turntable also, my first vinyl was Beethoven concerto 5 Kempff.
My two first CD : Mozart arias / Fleming and duets by Sutherland/ Pavarotti.

You just dated yourself as very youthful. When I was 10 I had a little cheezy suitcase turntable and the Monkeys first album just came out.

I dabbled in classical for a few years around 1980 but didn't really get into it seriously until about the time I joined TC: 2011.

 

Ever since I took my very first music lessons on piano at age 5. I wanted to be a concert pianist at that time and carried that wish for several years, until I discovered the trumpet and the appeal of conducting. My piano skills never did get to be all that impressive because I liked trumpet better, and two years ago neurologists told me my trumpet career was over......so I guess that leaves conducting?

 

About 22 years. As a high schooler I was watching MTV after school (naturally, that's what we watched back then, especially while pretending to do homework) and there was a commercial that came on that was making fun of Bach in comparison to today's "exciting music". I think. I'm not actually sure what the commercial was all about, because in the background of it Bach's music was quietly playing.

And that was it for me. Goodbye MTV, hello Classical music. I then bought 2 (probably awful) Beethoven and Bach "best ofs" and listened to them non-stop, just snippets of various well-known pieces. Soon after, I picked up this book: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51VFAd2yTzL.jpg ... and started building from there.

 

Pretty much since I joined TalkClassical - that is since spring 2012.

 

As a small child I heard classical music as 78 RPM disks on the old phonograph at home, but started buying my own 33 RPM vinyl disks in my early teens, as the 33 vinyl LP was just taking over music. So it's been 60-something years now, actively acquiring and hearing music. Music of many kinds has seen me through many years and both rough and smooth times.

 

I can remember where I was when I first listened to a full Beethoven symphony that I'd selected because it was a Beethoven symphony (and not just some music I'd heard in a movie). Walking the dog here...

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.8715959,-2.7720468,3a,75y,166.06h,84.18t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sJlA8GOOpHtPVCqixHD1A7A!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DJlA8GOOpHtPVCqixHD1A7A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D63.56581%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en
Not sure when, but it was about 2006.

 

Around 40 years for me. It started with Mozart, who is my favorite composer forever. I love to hear new music all the time and often listen to other styles, especially metal, soul & world music. Classical music team wins by 7 to 3 over the other styles all-star-team.

 

47 years. It began with a recording of Beethoven's 7th Symphony that I purchased for my mother who said it was her favorite. When I heard it, it blew away the 12 year old me.

Hooked ever since.

 

My interest was first triggered by my dad's copy of Beethoven's 7th (the Allegretto of course, conducted by Bruno Walter). That was during high school. But my serious interest started in college in the early 70s.

 

about 16-17 years.

 

30 years

since rooting out the music behind a TV advert - Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet

 

5 years ago, when I'd turned 60.

 

Kidding doesn't do seriously................

 

Always loved classical music but took it up seriously three years ago when I went to a concert! Never looked back!

 

I was 14 which was around 55 years ago!

 

Since I was 9 years old.

 

so does that mean 999 years

 

Started listening to classical music when I was 20. 49 years ago this September. It has been a fantastic journey and hopefully there are a few miles left.

 

In my community, you would be called "junior".

 

I was very, very young when I started to play the piano with my grandmother, and then I went to Musical School.

But, somehow, I never took it "seriously". To me, the "serious" stuff was always the things I learned at the "other" school: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Latin, Linguistics,... Music was always for fun.

 

I had started studying violin at a young age, and I used to hate it. Then, one day, out of the blue, I decided that I wanted to become a great violinist. I was a very good violinist even before I had taken this decision at the age of 11 or so, but that added determination turned me into an exciting prospect. Eventually, I lost my confidence as I approached my late teens, and my interest in voice started overriding my dream of becoming a renowned violinist. At the age of 18, I started exploring contemporary music and that sparked a new interest in music in me. Then, I found yet another renewed interest in music when I enrolled at university.

So, the main answer to OP's question is "I was around 11 or so", but it fascinates me how many times I rekindle my passion for music and learning at different intervals. I never get sick of music, but sometimes you find that there are certain moments where you feel like you're falling in love all over again with the subject.

 

Started listening to classical music around first grade... but I only seriously got into it in fourth or fifth grade.

 

My first serious enthusiasm came in college, when I took a music appreciation class so I could talk to a lovely music major. I was hooked for three years. Then I dropped it because it was taking up too much space in my head, and I needed a clear head to concentrate on my career. I picked it up again back in 1995 when I heard Satie's Gymnopedie No. 5 on the radio, and it was so compelling that it led me to one piece, then another, and the rest is history.

 

When I was a kid (around 6) I remember a bunch of 12" 78s around the house, which I took to. Michael Haydn's Toy Symphony. Danny Kaye narrating Tubby the Tuba, a few Strauss waltzes. By Fourth Grade, I staryed collecting LPs -- Swan Lake excerpts, Peer Gynt, My sister started getting me records for Christmas/birthday (Toscanini doing the Eroica, Copland's Rodeo), by 6th grade I asked for my first opera for Christmas (Milanov/Bjoering/Christoff Aida). Never looked back (I'm now 66).

 

When I was a kid (around 6) I remember a bunch of 12" 78s around the house, which I took to.

Ah, those wonderful old 78s! When I was a kid, there was a stack of them tucked away in a closet drawer from my deceased uncle, and there was something about them which fascinated me. I wish I could have known him, because he was very musically aware. Back in 1946, he had recordings of pieces like Prokofiev's Lt. Kije and Shostakovich's 5th symphony.

To this day, I think the reason I like Kondrashin's Shostakovich is because the sound reminds me of those old 78s.

 

I took my classical music vows at age 9....but nun of that means anything anymore.

 

That's so punny. Laugh? I nearly started!:lol:

 

43 years. Started with Mahler and the 2nd Symphony, and worked backward, actually, skipping most of the 19th century and getting into Beethoven, Mozart, Handel, and Bach. That took a while, then I spread out in the baroque a bit, went through a New Age period, and then came back and started over around 20 years ago.

 

Since 2009, so that makes eight years now. I was at a phase where I needed a new musical direction in my life, and I was trying different stuff. I tried classical, and haven't looked back. I know a lot of CM listeners like to listen to a wide range of music, different genres, being open-minded, but I'm not like that. I listen to classical music only and have no desire to listen to anything else... well, except very rarely. I try not to impose limits on myself, but I have a strong feeling that I'll listen to CM and not much else until I die.